Six decades is a long time to be away from home. In 2027, Pittcon, the world’s largest laboratory science conference and exposition, will return to the city of its birth, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the first time since 1967. This reunion represents a significant milestone, as it will unite the conference’s network of global experts with a city that is at the cutting edge of modern science.
Pittcon, 60 Years Apart
When Pittcon left Pittsburgh, the city was in the process of transforming from an industrial hub to a scientific powerhouse. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Pittsburgh was dominated by steel and heavy manufacturing. This is where it earned its nickname, the “City of Steel.” But after the Second World War, its position as a global center for these industries began to slip.
A mix of foreign competition, corporate restructuring, and aging technology and infrastructure eventually led to an economic crash and deindustrialization by the 1980s.
Although this decline was significant, leading to widespread unemployment and urban decay, the city soon started to redefine itself. In particular, it saw an expansion of its educational, medical, and technological institutions. The University of Pittsburgh became recognized for its contributions to healthcare science, including the development of the first successful polio vaccine by Dr. Jonas Salk and his team in the 1950s, pioneering organ transplantation methods in the 1980s, and the development of less-invasive surgeries for breast cancer in the same decade…